House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Thursday pushed back sharply against a report that he has discouraged members of his caucus from visiting El Salvador to highlight the Trump administration’s mistaken deportation of a Maryland resident to a notorious prison there.
Speaking to reporters in the Capitol, Jeffries said the report, published by The Bulwark earlier in the week, was patently false, although he stopped short of endorsing such visits — past or future.
“In terms of the report that alleged that members of House Democratic leadership had some phantom conversation with either the members who took a trip to El Salvador — or any other members — that is a complete and total fabrication,” Jeffries said. “The only statement that was made to members who went to El Salvador was, 'Welcome back, we are glad you have returned safely.'"
The debate over the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has divided Democrats on Capitol Hill since he was deported from Maryland to an El Salvadoran prison in the middle of March. Abrego Garcia had entered the country illegally years ago. But he was allegedly a target of gang violence at home, and after an arrest in 2019 a judge had blocked his deportation, citing concerns about his physical safety if he were forced to return — a move that allowed him to live and work in the U.S. legally.
In court documents, the Trump administration acknowledged that the deportation was made in error. And the Supreme Court had ruled last month that the United States is bound to “facilitate” his return.
But top administration officials have said they are powerless to force El Salvadoran leaders to deliver him back to the United States. And the country’s president, Nayib Bukele, has rejected the notion of doing so.
Some Democrats have sought to highlight Abrego Garcia’s plight as an example of President Trump’s disdain for U.S. law — due process in particular — as part of his mass deportation effort.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) visited El Salvador last month, where he met with Abrego Garcia and spoke liberally with the press. And four Democratic members of the House — Reps. Maxwell Frost (Fla.), Robert Garcia (Calif.), Yassamin Ansari (Ariz.) and Maxine Dexter (Ore.) — made a similar trip a short time later.
Trump and top administration officials have vowed to target gang members and violent criminals as they conduct their deportations, and they’ve claimed that Abrego Garcia has links to MS-13. Abrego Garcia and his family have denied that allegation, but the public safety message had helped Trump win a second term, and some more moderate Democrats have warned that it’s a political mistake to make Abrego Garcia the poster child of the party’s fight against Trump’s deportation policies.
The Bulwark’s story said Jeffries has discouraged any more visits, citing two anonymous aides and an unnamed lawmaker. Before Jeffries’s press conference on Thursday, his office called the story “thinly sourced.”
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